Dec 26, 2016
From a stack of library books, a quilt was inspired. The Celery Stick block from Marnie Buck and Jilly Guffy’s Quilt du Jour was supposed to quickly yield a nice big quilt top to build my machine quilting skills. Oh, well. Quilt and quick aren’t really two words that go together.
The Celery Stick block is easy to piece and scale up or down. Shopping my stash, deep night blues and yellows formed the color palette. Oh, yes, an Italian hilltop town at night could totally be an option. Many great memories of day trips to this northern Lazio town were reason to start strip cutting.
But what to quilt? After all, the whole purpose of this quilt is: 1) to play and enjoy the quilting process 2) to create a warm queen size bed cover 3) to be challenged. Then it occurred to me. I could quilt in the guild symbols of 18th Century Orvieto to build my skills.
Arte e Mestieri di Orvieto
The Guilds of Orvieto depict the reliance on textiles in 18th Century Orvieto’s economy. I remember the afternoon spent chatting with a gentleman who made terra cotta representations of these Guild mascots. I bought one as a gift. I wish I’d purchased more. So here is my quilt that is inspired by Oriveto which hung at the 2016 Rising Star Quilt Show
Vintner was one of the easier quilt shapes to dress.
Detail of the quilt top.
The Oriveto City Seal
Orvieto as it hung at the RSQ show
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So think of me if you’re ever on vacation and you find you cannot sleep forever. I’m under this wonderful quilt with twinkling lights and wonderful wool batting.
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Dec 25, 2016
A long absence from the blogosphere, for sure… Did you think the election did me in? No, I’ve seen this type of change in Italy and Tunisia, so that’s not the explanation. Transitions sum up the last six weeks, a dozen blog posts lurking in my head the entire time. So I’m finishing 2016 and kicking off 2017 with highlights of my creative days, minutes and dreams. Here we go!
First Textile Blog of Solstice, a travel story. My destination? Seattle. My knitting project? Scarf Ornament.
Some background? Once upon a time, I lived on the Puget Sound. It was my childhood dream come true. While Rome, Milan and Boston held my home address for the last couple decades, my heart still feels at rest in Seattle. Spending the week before Thanksgiving in Western Washington brought all of those home feelings front and center.
While Seattle changes, certain landmarks stay the same.
What to knit? A peruse of my stash found a lovely burgundy Shuibui Staccato and a golden skein of Anzula Milky Way. The colors were lovely, a perfect combo for Scarf Ornament. The perfect color combination, yes. The perfect fiber combination, no. As I wound the very fine, single ply Milky Way on the plane, I knew another yarn needed to replace that golden wonder.
What a perfect excuse for a ferry ride to Bainbridge Island to the lovely Churchmouse Yarns. After perusing the entire store, I returned to the Staccato and chose a yellowy green. Purple and green is not everyone’s color choice, but I have grown quite fond of the results.
I couldn’t wait to cast on in the new yarns.
In addition to friends and family, the Seattle Art Museum’s Yves St Laurent exhibit proved to be a fabulous way to spend an afternoon. Before I knew it, my Seattle sejour was over, but the scarf ornament continued.
Yes, the knitting continues. With home renovation projects, work and holiday festivities, my only knitting time has been on the MBTA. Scarf ornament is not a project for public transit, imho. I’m about 5 repeats into the scarf and only now am I memorizing the essence of the pattern. Working 20 stitches, picking up the pattern and repeating is a slow process on public transit.
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Soon, I will retire this project to my bedside. But it’s the time of year when I should turn back to my Master Knitter corrections. That story’s for another day in my twelve textile posts of solstice.
Nov 8, 2016
My reputation as a knitwear repair whiz brings sweaters, afghans, baby blankets into Melrose’s yarn shop. Always frugal, my heart always prefers repair to replace, but this recent sweater was a challenge. If it weren’t for Scrapiana’s posts on Twitter and Instagram about #TheBigMend, I might have suggested ways to up cycle this designer light as air hooded cardigan.
Fine cashmere with nasty rip
With such a large hole, matching the navy cashmere fine yarn was a huge endeavor.
- The first choice is use the mending yarn that came with the sweater. Of course, you can never find that when you need it.
- Second, could I shorten or remove hems to harvest yarn for the repair? Not without many trickle down issues.
- Could we source a similar yarn? The client tried without success and finally, the fine folks at In Stitches suggested that I try embroidery wool. The navy looked quite close, so ahead I went.
Then of course, the real work began:
- Write the lace pattern to match the existing decrease and increase methods.
- Determine the gauge and appropriate needles to obtain the gauge.
- Identify the actual section to reknit.
- For this project, I picked up the bottom row of stitches in the replacement section, joining the rows to the sweater as I worked. Then I grafted the last row of replacement stitches to the cardigan.
- Weave in any ends of the original sweater
- Check the garment for other wear and tear.
#VisibleMend
In this instance, the mend is visible. That navy embroidery wool looks quite bright next to the original garment (no, it really isn’t a black sweater). It’s mended, whew. It’s not invisible, wah. Can’t perfection always be an option? No, Alanna, not always! A life lesson lurks somewhere in this knitwear repair.
Oct 1, 2016
September, where did you go? Summer left and I miss it so.
Bare skin, sunshine, warm sailing days slip into sweaters and shawlettes to combat the grey.
The first grey weekend in eons gives me the opportunity to nest in my new studio space, plow ahead on indoor quilting projects and begin blogging again.
Most New Englanders love fall and jump into formation as soon as the first apple drops in late August. Me, I wait for the equinox, with full knowledge that by Thanksgiving, the best of fall leads to that quiet hibernation called winter. Sigh.
Ok, no use worrying about tomorrow today…
Aug 31, 2016
How many times over the last 15 years have I vowed not to make my own clothes?
While living in Italy, interesting clothing options popped from every shop window. Why do I need to sew with so many fabulous options nearby?
While focusing on art quilts, accepting reluctantly that there are only 24 hours in a day. Why would I neglect my fiber art?
Then reality hits: Italian fashions are often too short for my limbs, too expensive for my budget.
I find fabulous fashion fabrics that I definitely want in my life! So much for my vow not to sew my clothing. Temptation and opportunity lure me back into paper patterns and fitting sessions. So the zig zag continues. I enjoy sewing my own clothes.
Last winter, I vowed to update my wardrobe with clothing purchases. Shuffling through Boston’s dressing rooms yielded more skinny jeans (yawn!) that stuck to my calves when I stood up. The color palettes suited winter or summer complexions, but not this contrasting persimmon autumn. Really? Can’t I find interesting clothing that fits my lifestyle? What to do?
Summer arrived and favorite duds came out of boxes to save the situation(many of them made by me!). My vow to update my wardrobe pops into my mind as the fall/winter fashions hit the news stands and shop windows. In October, I will buy some new clothes.
During the studio move, all of my wonderful fashion fabric passed through my hands. Scrumptious.
Oh, yes, I will sew this fall.
